It is worth mentioning that Chinese e-commerce giant and Paytm backer Alibaba had pumped USD 200 million into BigBasket in February

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New Delhi: Paytm Mall — the e-commerce venture backed by China’s Alibaba Group — is likely to acquire a majority stake in the online supermarket BigBasket, reported Business Standard, citing unidentified sources as saying that Paytm Mall is at an advanced stage of negotiations with the Bengaluru-based company.

The financial daily mentioned that the digital payments company has been looking for an online grocery player ever since there were rumours in 2017 that American retail behemoth Walmart wanted to acquire an online retail partner in India. However, a Paytm spokesperson refused to divulge any such detail so far.

It is worth mentioning that Chinese e-commerce giant and Paytm backer Alibaba had pumped USD 200 million into BigBasket in February. Many analysts say the funds gave BigBasket the firepower to take on US-based Amazon and homegrown ecommerce giant Flipkart, both of which have entered into the online grocery space in India.

The publication quoted an unnamed source saying that talks are still on. BigBasket seeks a seat on the board of Paytm Mall and also wants the company to be “valued at a premium”.

Last month, One97 Communications Ltd, the owner of Paytm, received USD 300 million (about Rs 2,179 crore) in fresh fund injection from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The transaction was the Warren Buffett-led company’s first investment in the country.

According to reports, the legendary investor, while addressing Berkshire's shareholders at the annual meeting in May, had shown an interest in the digital payments industry, mentioning that the financial payments industry is a huge deal globally and that many entities were working to reinvent the sector.

Meanwhile, Samara Capital and Amazon inked a deal last month to acquire the Aditya Birla Retail Ltd's food and grocery retail chain More for an enterprise value of around Rs 4,200 crore. The US-based online retail titan would initially hold 49 per cent stake in the supermarket chain, while the Indian private equity fund will hold the remaining 51 per cent stake.